Anorak

Sports Category

Sports news, commentary and scores with wit and added value. We compare and contrast the best and worst sports reporting in the mainstream press, blogs, TV and online. We love the English Premier League (Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs, Manchester United and Manchester City) and all things football but we cover cricket, rugby, the Olympics, tennis, golf, F1 and highlights of the sporting year.

Transfer balls looks at the Daily Mirror’s lead story: Raheem Sterling could be leaving Liverpool for life at Arsenal. Recalling how well things went when Arsenal last tried to buy a Liverpool player – a failed bid of £40m plus £1 for Luis Suarez – investigating the veracity of this story seems worthwhile.

Daily Mirror back page

John Cross reminds readers that former QPR starlet Sterling has yet to sign a new deal at Liverpool. He says a raft of big clubs are after the player, mentioning Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City. Cross then states that “City will make a big bid” for the England player.

That’s pretty much the entire back-page news story. It continues two pages inside, with Cross saying that “Arsenal are serious contenders” and have made “discreet enquiries about Sterling’s availability”. Given that the Gunners’ apparent discretions are back-page news, you wonder what form the club’s enquiries took: a word in the ear of the Mirror’s Arsenal reporter, perhaps?

Over in the Mail, news is that Sterling will not sign for Liverpool “even if Liverpool offer £180,000 a week”. Says who? We’re not told? It’s just a fact that if Liverpool lose their minds and offer Sterling £180,000-a week to play for them he will not stay. Make it £180,001 and… yeah, maybe he will. Call his agent, Make the offer. See what occurs.

After that uter balls, over in the Express, their story is that Liverpool are interested in buying Arsenal’s Theo Walcott, who will be replaced at The Emirates by Marco Reus. Really? Reus is the player the Express reported had agreed to join Real Madrid and the Mirror said had joined Barcelona.

The Sun says Arsenal are looking to buy Southampton’s Victor Wanyama for £30m contains a line to make Gunners fans smirk.

The Sun says Spurs also want Wanyama, 23:

A source close to the Kenya ace said: “Victor would only consider a top-four club — or Spurs as he admires Pochettino from their time at Saints.”

…or Spurs. Ouch!

To recap: picky Victor would only consider leaving the Saints for a top seven club, then.

And as for the Sun’s scoop, well, in 2013 the paper reported that he was off to Arsenal for…£10m::

ARSENAL are poised to slap in a £10 million-plus bid for Celtic star Victor Wanyama. SunSport understands Gunners boss and long term admirer Arsene Wenger is finally ready to spend big on the Kenyan midfielder — and meet the SPL champs’ asking price.

Ladies make their way home at the end of Ladies Day on the second day of the Grand National meeting at Aintree Racecourse on 13 April 2007, Liverpool, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

News is that Aintree racecourse wants to ban photographs of women in ‘inappropriate’ poses. Aintree racecourse supremo John Baker tells the Liverpool Echo:

“We want to overwhelm the negativity, to push the positivity to the front. Our event is full of character, it’s fun, and that’s generated by the personality of the Liverpool people.”

He wants more photos of Liverpool women in their traditional demure poses, such as embroidering cushions, fox-trotting and eating cucumber sandwiches (or ‘cucumber sarnies’ as the locals call them).

Chelsea “legend” John Terry has been talking with the Chelsea website about his apprenticeship at Stamford Bridge.

After joining from West Ham United’s academy in 1995 at the age of 14, Terry turned to Dennis Wise, then Chelsea’s irritant-in-chief:

“I used to clean Dennis Wise’s boots. He wanted his boots perfect. I used to take really good care of them.” I used to Vaseline them and stuff like that. They were about size 2½! I learned a lot from Wisey. Every now and then he gave me a little bonus. Every time he scored I was on £25, which was half my wages at the time!”

Good old, Wisey.

“I’d do anything for them (the senior players). I’d make their teas and coffees.” Even silly things like sit on the toilet to make the seat warm for them in the cold winter days at the training ground. It’s bizarre when you think about it but that was part of growing up.”

Are Arsenal buying Palermo’s Paulo Dybala? The Telegraph says they could be. The paper also says Chelsea might buy him.

The Standard says Dybala will cost £30m. It says Arsenal will not pay that. That’s odd because the Daily Star says Arsenal have agreed to buy Dybala for £31m.

The Express says he will cost Manchester United £28.9m – and they want him, too.

The Daily Starsays Arsenal are really keen on Karim Benzema – as they are every year. But they have been “rocked” by news that Paris St Germain also want him. But not to worry because that will mean Arsenal sign PSG’s Edinson Cavani for [insert ridiculous amount of money here].

The Daily Expresssays Arsenal are in for Paris Saint-Germain’s Marco Verratti and Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger. But, then, it says Real Madrid want both of those player, too. The Express says it knows this because Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti has “specifically requested the duo”. Yeah. He didn’t say “get me whathisface and oojamiflip”. He used their actual names. #flattered.

The Metro, says Arsenal will “snare” Chile international Charles Aranguiz by dangling Alexis Sanchez over a bear pit filled with cash.

MAY 13: Captain, Thiago Silva (L) and Mamadou Sakho (R) of PSG celebrate in front of the fans after winning Ligue 1 during the Paris Saint-Germain Trophy Ceremony at Trocadero plaza on May 13, 2013 in Paris, France. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)

Liverpool news now. The Sun says that Mamadou Sakho used only to speak French to his teammates. Is that good or bad? The Liverpool team that lined up against Manchester United featured five native English speakers. So. Speaking just in French is less than ideal.

But the best bit about the Sun’s story is that Mamadou is quoted thus:

“Learning the language has been the hardest part of adapting to life in England. I get very frustrated when I can’t express myself. Some people told me to speak in French, saying it would enable me to relax a little. But when I spoke French on the pitch, calling for substitutions and similar matters, nobody understood what I was saying. I thought, ‘oh no, this is pointless!’ and felt I really had to learn English. It took me some time, but I’m fine now.”

His English is superb.

But we do wonder if when Mamadou was speaking only in French, he was doing so with the affectation of a broad Scouse accent – you know, in the same vein as Liverpool lad Joey Barton speaks French to the people of Marseilles:

Having been told by an insider that Radamel Falcao has been “reduced to tears” at Manchester United, the Sun leads with news that his teammate Angel Di Maria is sulking after Louis Van Gaal told him off for playing badly.

One page in and we get to see rheumy-eyed Falcao and read that the misfiring Colmbian will “walk out” on Manchster United unless he gets a “public show of faith” from Louis Van Gaal.

When Manchester United beat Liverpool 2-1, the point scoring had only just begun. The Daily Mirror’s man with an abacus used various esoteric and expert techniques and algorithms to award his scores out of 10 to the game’s players.

The scores for the Liverpool team are worthy of comment. Three Liverpool players – Adam Lallana, Moreno and…Steven Gerrard scored 4 points each. Gerrard scored one point for every 9.5 seconds he was on the pitch. He was, of course, red carded after 38 seconds of playing time. Lallana and Moreno lasted 45 minutes and 66 minutes, respectively.

And that’s not all.

The Mirror praises “Liverpool’s best defender” Martin Skrtel.

He “kept his head while others lost theirs”.

Skrtel has been charged with violent conduct over an alleged stamp on Manchester United goalkeeper David De Gea.

It’s almost as if those points aren’t worth the paper tgey’re written on….

Transfer Balls – a look at drivel presented as football fact by the mainstream media. Today the Press returns to France and Juventus star Paul Pogba. And news is that he’s on his way to Chelsea and Manchester United.

The Times and Telegraph both say Manchester United will splash out £60m on Pogba. Jason Burt says Pogba is the “key” Manchester United target.

Burt adds that some other teams also like Pogba: Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Real Madrid are all “strongly linked with him”.

Of course, we have already read in the Express that Pogba is off to Arsenal, and has signed a deal to join PSG. Burt catches up with the PSG angle:

Juventus director Pavel Nedved was quoted in La Parisien newspaper on Saturday as saying that PSG had submitted a bid – but, in this same report, this was denied by the French club’s director of sport, Olivier Letang.

Clear as mud, then.

Sky Sportssays Pogba could remain at Juventus. After all, they are in the quarter-final of the Champions’ League, and Pogba was happy to run his Manchester United contract down and leave the club in 2012. Why go back?

Which leads to Jacon Steinbeg’s news in the Guardian that Pogba will be playing for Manchester City next season. Well, maybe. He understands that such a link is “nonsense”.

And if you want real nonsense, you need to look at the Metro and the Star, which reports:

Marotta said: “We are here celebrating a victory achieved by a team, a team that played without Pogba. This means football is a team sport and not just about individuals.”

So. He did not say anything about Pogba being surpluss to requirements. He said football is a team game.

And what Moratta went on to say – not something quoted by either paper but mentioned in the Standard – is:

“Pogba is a young player with lots of promise but he is realising his potential,” he said after Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Genoa. We want to win and we don’t necessarily have to sell our best players. It is clear that players of this quality attract interest from other clubs but we don’t seek buyers and there has been no contact.”

Liverpool lost 1-2 at home to Manchester United in the Premier League. We at Anorak always like to see what the local newpapers of both sides thought of the game.

The monocular Liverpool Echo and Manchester Evening News only rate players from their own areas. The MEN says the game’s best player was Juan Mata, with an 9 out of 10.

The Liverpool Post offers no rating for the bright Mata, but does say that the best Liverpool player was Sakho, who gets a 7. It gives Adam Lallana a 4. Lallana was not out-scored by Steven Gerrard, who replaced the former Southampton star and lasted just 43 seconds before he earned a red card. Instead of the ‘0’ Gerrard should have scored, the Post offers no score. Ity then adds that Gerrard is The best player to have pulled on a Liverpool shirt – ever.

In the haste to excuse Gerrard, the Post’s man-on-the scene notes:

“Ironically, after that [the sending off] they [Liverpool] played a lot better, they were a better team today with 10 than they were with 11.”

Good old Stevie, G., who does right when he does wrong.

Elswhere the Post adds that Gerrard is “saving the fairytale for Wembley”.

Banned for spitting at Newcastle United’s Papiss Cisse – who then returned fire with interest – Manchester United’s Jonny Evans is talking to the Times. The headline – “If I’d genuinely spat, Mum and Dad would have been disgusted” – gives readers heads-up as to what the kind of nonsense they can expect.

This is no mea culpa. This is me a victim. Banned for six matches for his part in that exchange of bodily fluids, the caption beneath Evans’ face tells readers the spitting is “alleged”.

James Ducker says this is Evans telling his side of the story. But it looks a lot like the Times‘ is cocking an overly sympathetic ear, a feeling compounded by the accompanying photo of Cisse gobbing at Evans but no photo of Evans clearing his throat at Cisse.

Transfer balls: The big football news in the Daily Mirror is that Arsenal’s Theo Walcott is off to Liverpool. Maybe he will “Never Walc Alone”:

Theo Walcott is 26. He has just 15 months to run on his curent £90,000-a-week contract (although that rises to £100,000 a week in theDaily Express). And since returning from injury Walcott’s not one enough to surplant Danny Wellbeck in the Arsenal pecking order.

The Telegraph says Walcott will remain at Arsenal if he can get a new deal worth more than £100,000-a-week.

But any move to Liverpool, the team he supported as a boy, depends on what the Reds’ Raheem Sterling does. The Express says he’s rejected an offer of £90,000-a-week to remain at Liverpool. We lean that big-spending Real Madrid are watching him closely.

All fans hang on to the idea that their team’s players love their club above all others. They don’t. They see the money flooding into the game, and they want more and more of it.

The Mail says Arsenal’s top-earners Sanchez and Ozil earn around £140,000-per-week. That’s around the same sum as Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard earns a week.

So. Their team-mates demand parity with the top tier earners. But they’re not as good.

Maybe the future is for pay-per-view players, each star linked to the amount the paying fans will cough up to watch them? The better they play, the more the punters click their keypads, and the more the winning players take from the wages pool.

This would more likely result in the likes of Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho earning far more than his curent deal of £70,000-a-week and his teammate Glen Johnson knocking up to four ‘noughts’ from his £90,000-a-week-deal.

Meanwhile, over at Manchester United, Radamel Falcao will not get his £265,000-a-week wages, and what with mortgages and other committments start looking to boost his income with a Saturday job in a hairdressers.

Walcott to Liverpool. Sterling to Real. Falcao to the Arndale Centre. You read it here first…

Why did 96 Liverpool fans lose their lives on15 April 1989 at the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough Stadium? We had thought it was to do with treating football fans as sub-human scum, a problem to be solved through new forms of control. How else was it that when the innocent were dying in cages the police called not for the ambulances but for the attack dogs? Why else was it that with the dead not yet buried and the dying in hospital, the Press felt able to continue the theme that all football fans deserved it?

Football was “a slum sport watched by slum people”. Well, so said the Sunday Times newspaper. But the Times was only right about the stadiums, neglected and inadequate. In May 1985, the Bradford City stadium fire in May 1985 killed 56 people.

In 1985, 38 Italian fans died following a charge by Liverpool supporters at the Heysel stadium. The dead were killed when a faulty wall collapsed.

So. Why were Liverpool fans given the Leppings Lane end at Hillsborough while their less well-supported opponents Nottingham Forest stood in the bigger end of the ground? Because that was how the police wanted it.

Appearing at the Hillsborough inquests in Warrington, Cheshire, David Duckenfield, the Hillsborough police match commander, says his failure to close a tunnel “was the direct cause of the deaths of 96 people”.

He was wrong. He made a terrible error. But that error was triggered by the top-down monstering of all football fans. David Duckenfield did not act in isolation.

The dead were libelled. At the coroner’s court, details of the deceased were read out together with their blood alcohol reading. That horror included the blood alcohol reading of a dead 10-year-old boy. The verdict was that the 96 had perished in an “Accidental Death”. No charges would be brought against anyone. Only the dead were to blame.

Suck it up. Move on. Years later the elite joined the bereft and abused in a minute’s silence. Your pain was now their pain, too. The conniving never stops.

The lies were maintained. Evidence presented without contest by the State propped up the narrative of drunkeness and violence.

Now David Duckenfield says he “froze” during the afternoon of the 1989 football disaster.

Mr Duckenfield is 70.

The wheels of justice turn slowly. We now see an old man in the dock. He is full of remourse. But he’s no longer a serving copper. But he was when he made a witness statement on 5 May 1989. He said:

Now he says he is sorry for his lie about fans forcing an exit gate open to enter the ground. He said it was a “lie of omission” when he said gates to the ground had been forced. “He claimed he was referring to the first opening of gate C, at 2,48pm, when he wrongly believed it had been forced and about 150 fans gained access”. He says:

“I am now very much older, very much wiser and very much more understanding of the events of the day and have decided to tell the whole truth.”

So says the old man no longer in uniform.

You wait long enough and if you’re lucky you get to hear the truth just before God makes his judgement…

NEWS is that the police have raided the Sunderland dressing room. No, not looking for mogodon or any other drugs that lead to malcoordination and apathy. They were seeking anything that can aid the investigation into claims that Adam Johnson had sexual contact with an underage girl.

The Sun announces:

Adam Johnson cops raid Sunderland dressing rooms

And:

Officers have now scoured for evidence the club’s 49,000-capacity Stadium of Light and its 60-acre Academy of Light.

When 17-year-old Australian Islamic State fighter, Jake Bilardi, died in a suicide bombing attack, we all saw the photo. There was Jake in his Chelsea kit.

Cheslea’s marketing men must have been delighted by the repeated exposure Bilardi has given their brand.

Fans of other clubs can only smirk when they see a miscreant wearing a rival team’s kit.

When Craig Meehan was arrested during the Shannon Matthews affair, he was photgpahed in his Manchester United kit. Meehan was subsequently convicted of possessing indecent images of children on a computer found in the home he shared with Karen Matthews.

If you see an embarrassing endorsement, please let us know at @theanorak on twittter.

The Juventus star has been valued at £77m, but Paris Saint-Germain star Marco Verratti has entertained the idea of a possible swap deal involving the Frenchman… “If PSG were to force me to leave in order to make room for Pogba, then that’s different.”

So. Verratti to Juventus it is. Unless you read the Daily Express, whih says he’s off to Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United.

The Sun has an “exclusive”. News is that Raheem Sterling has yet to sign a deal to prolong his stay at Liverpool.

In September 2014, the Sun had an “EXCLUSIVE” to quicken the hearts of Liverpool FC Fans: “LIVERPOOL are finally ready to open contract talks with Raheem Sterling.” Yeah, finally! The 19-year-old player with three years left to run on his current contract was finally going to have his future sorted out.

Manchester United have spent too much money and time giving Louis van Gaal everything he has asked for this season to begin to contemplate dispensing with their Dutch manager this summer – even if he fails to achieve the club’s target of Champions League qualification.

Neil Curtis in The Sun, March 11:

LOUIS VAN GAAL’S job is safe even if Manchester United fail to make the Champions League. The board trust in his long-term plan despite the prospect of missing out on the top four.Louis van Gaal’s job is safe even if Manchester United fail to make the Champions League. The board trust in his long-term plan despite the prospect of missing out on the top four. The club do not want another summer of turmoil